Your Royal Highnesses,
Excellencies,
Professor Köpcke,
Ms. Kumlin,
Mr. Larsson,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am extremely pleased to be able to open with Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel as well as Minister Björling the exhibition of prizewinning Swedish designers: Jung. Innovativ. Genial. Young. Innovative. Ingenious.
We feel very honoured and privileged to welcome Your Royal Highnesses, and you, Ms. Björling, to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Ni är varmt välkommna!
Your Royal Highness, I´d like to begin with a little story about your step-grandmother, Queen Louise, one that tells us something about the self-concept of Swedish design:
During the Second World War, Louise Mountbatten, then Crown Princess, posed as a model for a magazine. On behalf of the Swedish government, she presented classic, functional, and timeless fashions that were inexpensive, to demonstrate to the public at this difficult time the idea that good style ought to be affordable for anyone very much in line with the ideals of social democracy.
Simple lines, high functionality, and a democratic, social approach are characteristics we still associate with objects designed in Sweden.
But Swedish design is far more than the Ikea and H&M brands that are so popular here. The country has recognised design and innovation very early on as a driving force of economic growth and thus promoted it. Sweden, as we know, is a highly-developed, service-orientated country, and the creative and design industry is seen as one of the fields of the future.
Just how offensively the Swedish people commit to the accomplishments of their designers and how naturally the country includes design in its daily life and representative activities were evident to us in the exhibits shown at Design S in 2008 and 2011 at the Swedish Consulate General, then still located on the Alster.
Design is a key future-oriented field that links Sweden and Hamburg. For years, the creative industry has also been a focus of Hamburgs municipal politicians. We are well aware that major centres like our Hanseatic city serve as incubators for that which is new and innovative. The idea that the creative potential of cities determines their future was a good reason for us to concentrate on the creative industry. Design as a location factor became part of the agenda and was promoted through a large number of activities. And this concept was crowned with success!
By now we have been tagged the most successful design metropolis in Germany. And this is not only due to the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, which is regarded as one of the leading museums of applied art and design in Europe.
Nearly 14,000 designers in almost 3,000 design offices, international agency networks and companies operate in this field, resulting in more than a billion euros, almost 8.8 billion kronor, in annual turnover. The diversity of their activities is great, ranging from industrial and product design to interior design to packaging, and communication design.
By the way: Some 30 percent of all packaging used on a daily basis are designed in Hamburg from the milk container to the mineral water bottle, from shampoo to chocolate.
That just about wraps it up, doesn´t it?
But it is not only the large number of people employed that denotes Hamburgs status as a design metropolis. Well-known events, for example the LeadAwards, and various think tanks have re-inforced our reputation. Renowned institutions of education are dedicated to up-and-coming professionals. These include the Department of Design, Media and Information at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Fine Arts, and the AMD Academy of Fashion and Design.
We are proud of the hamburgunddesign initiative, too, used by the State Ministry of Cultural Affairs to promote design. Its aim is to make people aware of the importance of design in our day-to-day life and to spread the news on the expertise available in Hamburg as a creative and design location.
At the moment, the most important project of hamburgunddesign is designxport, which is to open in the Elbtorquartier of HafenCity, Hamburg, in the summer of 2014. This public space will be dedicated to design and designers from Hamburg and the entire world who are engaged in functional research and how to relate it to everyday life. The centre is to serve as a hub for ideas, information and discussions especially those relating to economic, ecological and social processes.
No doubt those ideas were also considered in the work on the objects shown here.
Your Royal Highnesses,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
only recently, the following tongue-in-cheek-quote was to be found in one of the leading German newspapers: The more standardized the world becomes, the more Swedish it looks.
When I look at what is displayed here, a large number of exhibits based on the criteria of sustainability, environmental awareness, design and innovation, I can only see that phrase as a compliment.
In any case, I am very much looking forward to this exhibition and I hope it will attract a great number of interested visitors.
Thank you very much indeed.
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.